Seven years for 'British godfather'

Wednesday 10 January 2007 00:03 BST

A multi-millionaire crime boss, known as the British Godfather, has been jailed for seven years for laundering money.

Terry Adams, 52, was also ordered to pay £750,000 compensation for the £1 million he laundered - or face another four years in jail. Adams, part of the notorious Adams criminal family, made so much money from crime he was able to retire at 35, the Old Bailey heard on Friday.

Judge Timothy Pontius said he had a cunning mind capable of dishonest financial manipulation. Adams had pleaded guilty to one charge of laundering money between 1997 and 2003. The prosecution accepted that he had not been involved in crime since 1993.

But he had placed illicit money with various people and used it to live a life of luxury, travelling around the world first class.

When the Inland Revenue took an interest, he had false work details made up and offered to settle in 1996 for £95,000. His tax returns had shown him earning only modest sums and there was no indication where the settlement would come from.

A joint surveillance operation by MI5 and police showed he had then set up two sham companies, Skye and Clouds, to launder his crime money, provide him with a false income and pay his mortgage.

Adams laundered £1.1 million and had realisable assets of £750,000, the judge said. He said Adams had delayed the court case for four years and changed his legal team three times. "It is obvious that the cost to the taxpayer overall has been colossal and, perhaps, unprecedented," the judge said.

The court was told prosecution costs alone were about £4 million. The judge ordered that Adams pay £50,000 towards the prosecution and be liable for his own defence costs, which could amount to several million pounds. He said Adams had not cooperated with the Legal Services Commission's request for full information about his finances.

"It will be open to you in due course to make representations as to any limit which ought to be set upon that contribution," the judge told Adams. The judge referred to publicity Adams and his family attracted - some of it referring to Adams as the British Godfather and British Al Capone.